You want to climb a mountain. As you ascend past 8,000 feet above sea level of elevation, you start to feel lightheaded. You may be exhibiting altitude sickness. Altitude sickness can occur for a variety of reasons. One of the key reasons is your body is not acclimated to altitude. It can also be that you are ascending to a higher altitude too quickly. In a plane, there is cabin pressurization to maintain that equal to lower altitude, so you will not encounter altitude sickness.
As you ascend to higher altitude, the atmosphere gets thinner, and there is less oxygen in the air you breathe as opposed to the air near lower altitudes that your body is accustomed to. The body can encounter challenges when trying to adjust to the difference in the amount of oxygen you are getting per breath.
There are a few types of altitude sickness.
AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) – This is the most common form of altitude sickness. It is mild, and you feel winded for every step you take. What you need to do is slow down your movements and ascent, and take more breaths before every move to minimize this impact, but don’t hyperventilate.
HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) – This is not a good sickness to have. This is when the altitude sickness affects your lungs and causes them to fill with fluid. You need to seek immediate medical attention if this happens because you may die. Immediately start descending at least 1000m or 3300ft per day from where you are to see if you feel better. If you feel better, slowly descend, and do not climb to high elevation for at least 24 hours. If you don’t feel better, continue to slowly descend to the bottom and seek immediate medical attention.
HACE (High Altitude Cerebral Edema) – This is the worst sickness to have. This is when the altitude sickness causes your brain to swells. This needs immediate medical attention as it is very dangerous, and you will die. If you feel a headache, immediately start descending at least 1000m or 3300ft per day from where you are to see if you feel better. If you feel better, slowly descend, and do not climb to high elevation for at least 24 hours. If you don’t feel better, continue to slowly descend to the bottom and seek immediate medical attention.
DCS (Decompression Sickness) – DCS is more common than people think. This can happen when changes in barometric pressure is too rapid causing decompression sickness. One I have seen the most is when people SCUBA dive. When SCUBA diving at altitude (lake diving at 6000ft of elevation as an example), and then drive down near sea level in less than 12 hours after the dive can make you sick. Same with SCUBA diving in the ocean and then flying less than 24 hours after the dive. Just be safe and don’t change altitude for 24 hours after diving.
Stay safe and adventure on.
